CANNES, France — Shia LaBeouf says the second "Transformers" movie got too big for its own good — but the third one brings the heart back to the franchise.

LaBeouf, who starts work on the next "Transformers" sequel Tuesday, said the third installment will be the best one yet. The new script restores a human element that got lost in the second movie, LaBeouf said.

"When I saw the second movie, I wasn't impressed with what we did," LaBeouf said in an interview Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival, where his finance drama "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" is premiering. "There were some really wild stunts in it, but the heart was gone."

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was a runaway commercial success but was drubbed by critics.

Michael Bay returns for the third time as director of the science-fiction franchise, which centers on dueling races of giant robots that bring their war to Earth. The next movie will have what the last one lacked — a sense of human consequences, LaBeouf said.

On the second movie, "we got lost. We tried to get bigger. It's what happens to sequels. It's like, how do you top the first one? You've got to go bigger," LaBeouf said. "Mike went so big that it became too big, and I think you lost the anchor of the movie. ... You lost a bit of the relationships. Unless you have those relationships, then the movie doesn't matter. Then it's just a bunch of robots fighting each other."

With "Transformers 3," the toll of the robot war will be grave for our planet, LaBeouf said.

"There's going to be a lot of death, human death. This time, they're targeting humans," LaBeouf said. "It's going to be the craziest action movie ever made, or we failed."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Getting 'Even'

Shia LaBeouf had a guest appearance on TV series from "Caroline in the City" to "The X-Files," before landing a role on the Disney Channel's "Even Stevens." LaBeouf played a maladroit freshman who worships Jay Leno. The show ran from 2000 to 2003. LaBeouf won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2003 for his role.
(Disney)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

Busy boy

LaBeouf attends the film premiere of "American Wedding" at the Universal Amphitheatre on July 24, 2003. The actor continued his Disney career by making the TV movies "Tru Confessions," in which he played a mentally challenged boy, and "Hounded." He also did sketches on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
(Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

Famous fans

In "Holes," LaBeouf played Stanley Yelnats, a teen sent to a detention camp in Texas for a crime he didn't commit. The warden, a cruel woman who uses snake venom to paint her nails, forces the boys to dig holes as punishment and to build character. After seeing the film, Steven Spielberg siad that LaBeouf reminded him of a young Tom Hanks.
(Walt Disney Pictures)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

No 'Holes' barred

LaBeouf attends the premiere of "Holes" on April 11, 2003. On the set of the film, co-star Jon Voight took LaBeouf under his wing. Voight told USA Today that the young actor had a "vivid, enthusiastic imagination and a poet's sensibility."
(Lucy Nicholson / Getty Images)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

'Project' LaBeouf

In 2003, LaBeouf appeared in the film "The Battle of Shaker Heights," in which he played a young war re-enactor who uses what he learns in the pretend battlefields to get by in school. The film was part of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's "Project Greenlight" series, which chronicled the making of the film.
(Miramax Films)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

Mama's boy

LaBeouf and his mother arrive at the premiere of "Project Greenlight 2's" "The Battle of Shaker Heights" at Universal Citywalk on Aug. 11, 2003. In the May issue of Playboy magazine, he called his mom, "The sexiest woman I know." And added. "If I could meet my mother and marry her, I would."
(Vince Bucci / Getty Images)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

Swing kid

In "The Greatest Game Ever Played," LaBeouf played the real-life golfer Francis Ouimet, who shocked the golf world when at the 1913 U.S. Open, flanked by his 10-year-old caddie, he defeated his idol, the defending British champion Harry Vardon, played by Stephen Dillane.
(Walt Disney Pictures)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

Breakthrough role

2007's "Disturbia" was an update on "Rear Window," with LaBeouf playing a boy under house arrest who notices that his neighbor, played by David Morse, may be a killer. The San Francisco Chronicle's Ruth Stein wrote that LaBeouf was "fast becoming the best young actor in Hollywood." The film also earned him three Teen Choice Awards.
(DreamWorks Pictures)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

First arrest

LaBeouf was arrested in November 2007 after he refused to leave a Chicago Walgreens store. After he was arrested, LaBeouf was “very courteous and polite,” and he posted bond before 7 a.m. LaBeouf was charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing. The criminal charges were dropped on Dec. 12, 2007.
(Chicago Police Department)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

Transformational role

In 2007's "Transformers," LaBeouf starred as Sam Witwicky, who becomes involved in a robot war on Earth between the Autobots and the Decepticons. LaBeouf gained 25 pounds of muscle for the role and did many of his own stunts.
(DreamWorks Pictures)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

Another surf board for the collection

LaBeouf accepts the Teen Choice award for breakout movie actor for "Transformers" on Aug. 26, 2007. He was also named 2007's "star of tomorrow" at the ShoWest convention.
(Kevin Winter / Getty Images)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

Going into battle

LaBeouf appeared opposite Harrison Ford in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" as Indiana's son, Mutt Williams. He told People magazine that he worked out seven days a week for three hours a day to prepare for the role. "I have definitely not trained like this for anything in my life. I'm preparing like I'm going into battle," he said.
(Paramount Pictures)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

Red carpet ready

Karen Allen, Cate Blanchett and LaBeouf arrive at the screening of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" at the 61st Cannes International Film Festival on May 18, 2008, in Cannes, France.
(Valery Hache / AFP - Getty Images)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

Man of action

In 2008's “Eagle Eye,” LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, the woman pushes them into a series of increasingly dangerous situations -- using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move.
(DreamWorks Pictures)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

'Eye' for box office hits

LaBeouf arrives at the premiere of "Eagle Eye" at the Mann Chinese Theater on Sept. 16, 2008. "Eagle Eye" was the No. 1 film on its opening weekend and went on to earn over $177 million worldwide.
(Michael Buckner / Getty Images)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

Injured hand doesn't stop LaBeouf

Shia LaBeouf reprises his role as Sam Witwicky for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." On July 27, 2008, LaBeouf was in an accident in which he rolled his truck and severely injured his left hand. The "Transformers" sequel writers worked his injury into the script.
(Robert Zuckerman)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation

Flying high

LaBeouf returns to his role as Sam Witwicky in the third "Transformers" movie, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," released in 2011. He made headlines by saying that he had slept with former co-star Megan Fox while filming the first film. Fox did not return for this movie.
(Paramount Pictures)
ShareBack to slideshow navigation